


Symbiosis

by WaltherP420



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Arguing, Explicit Language, Jealousy, M/M, Minor Violence, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27224593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaltherP420/pseuds/WaltherP420
Summary: One of the big reasons Yata tried to decline going out drinking on nights like this was Zenigata wasn't so much trying to find a pick-me-up after a bad work day as he was trying to get obliterated, trying to make a dive towards oblivion and forget himself for a night by poisoning his brain with enough alcohol that he could sever its connection to that whirring emotional mess at his core. He was a big man with a powerful constitution so it took a lot of effort but when he felt low enough, like tonight, he succeeded, and then Yata had the honor of helping his large pseudo-conscious coworker make it back to his hotel room in one piece.
Relationships: Arsène Lupin III/Zenigata Kouichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Symbiosis

Koichi Zenigata, at first glance, was an intimidating figure. Tall, broad, loud, and commanding. Zenigata's presence was so larger-than-life that he sometimes made people flinch without even meaning to.

Due to some combination of his appearance and young age, Goro Yatagarasu had never been particularly intimidating. Not to anyone. He had to exert a concerted effort for people to acknowledge or respect him, let alone be _intimidated_ by him.

But as they started working together Yata quickly learned that Zenigata, when not in the middle of a high-speed pursuit or bare-knuckle fistfight, could be tremendously awkward, and that his bravado was just one element of his larger-than-life emotional core that came through in everything he did, and that Zenigata didn't intimidate anyone as a deliberate tactic but rather because he couldn't turn that force of his personality off even if he wanted to. Yata was also constantly surprised by Zenigata's kindness and generosity. Yata was not disliked or unpopular but was still accustomed to other men making snide comments about his looks or to them being withholding of praise and support out of some kind of deeply cruel and insecure masculine competitive streak. Zenigata, on the other hand, was never withholding of anything, and did his best to teach Yata as much as he could, help him as much as he could, celebrate his victories as if they were his own. Honestly, moreso. When Yata had received a special commendation Zenigata had cried over it.

Over time it started to bother Yata that Zenigata had so few supporters among his peers and that it seemed like Zenigata had very few friends generally. If _any,_ other than Yata.

And Yata learned that there was something more to Zenigata's white whale, the Lupin case, and it was something that _also_ bothered him, that also made him uncomfortable.

It was not an immediate realization. It had taken a little while for Yata to notice.

After all, Zenigata was incorruptible and morally resolute. It would have been absurd for anyone to question his commitment to the case. Anyone could see that Zenigata had thrown the rest of his life away for it.

Zenigata was not an insecure man or a man who needed anyone's approval to live his life according to his own values, but his earnestness and his credulity, especially around those whose company he enjoyed, left him readily susceptible to emotional manipulation. Yata wasn't a particularly skilled or practiced manipulator by nature but he could still see it very clearly in Zenigata. The man practically had a target on his back. It was the trade-off for being so open, so honest.

And the more Yata learned about the Lupin case the more it seemed like the relationship between Lupin III and Inspector Zenigata had elements to it that were unprofessional. That if you looked closely and under the right light there was some tint to that undying dedication that had nothing to do with work. That because he was so open and ready and willing, one might even suggest desperate, to connect with people, there was some part of Zenigata that was open as well to being used, to being played. And if Yata, Zenigata's junior colleague and friend who had his best interests at heart could see it, a mastermind thief who did _not_ have Zenigata's best interests at heart would have zeroed in on it in an instant, on their first meeting. He would have since had years and years to fine-tune his manipulation, to hone in on Zenigata's weaknesses, to always give him just enough and let him get just close enough to keep him on the case without ever actually being close to catching Lupin permanently, make it just exciting enough that Zenigata would never quit or change cases or careers and get replaced by a different cop who Lupin couldn't use as easily. Or ever get a life or any hobbies outside of his job. Or make lasting friends. Or find a partner. 

If you're _that_ open-hearted there are going to be people who see it as an opportunity to shove their hand into your chest to root around for purchase. But rather than ever fully yank Zenigata's heart out Lupin kept the wound open for his own convenience, to pick at at his leisure.

It infuriated Yata but he wasn't sure what to do about it. He didn't want to give any higher-ups ammunition that could harm Zenigata. He also didn't know how to approach Zenigata directly about it without being misinterpreted or putting him on the defensive. He certainly didn't want to accuse impropriety or start any internal investigation or have a fight with his close superior. He just wanted to help a person he cared about and admired.

So what he tried to do was be a supportive and encouraging friend to Zenigata, hoping that would in some way help Zenigata build up a sense of self, an identity divorced from Lupin. Maybe he couldn't be supportive in the superhuman, "always dialed up to 11" way Zenigata himself was, but Yata would still be as much as he could be.

Sometimes it was difficult.

Zenigata would shine on the hunt, full of life and energy, visibly exhilarated in a way that was contagious. But when the inevitable happened and Lupin got away, Zenigata would crash, would blame himself and berate himself, would mope and sulk and drink. And drink. And _drink_. Lupin kept him in that rapid cycle of inhuman highs and lows, like a black hole with a crushing gravitational pull. As a mere mortal and as someone less predisposed to obsession or unhealthy coping mechanisms Yata would struggle to keep up and had no interest in leaping past that event horizon Zenigata had crossed however many years ago.

Despite being a lightweight and despite his discomfort with what his superior was doing to his liver Yata would give in at times and drink with Zenigata, usually either after one of their small victories of apprehending a different, more violent criminal (thanks to Lupin's help, of course, another in a running line of consolation prizes), or after one of their crushing, humiliating defeats, when Yata felt so low and felt so bad for himself and for Zenigata he had no energy left to politely decline going out to a local bar and getting shithoused together.

Tonight was one of the latter.

They were in Chicago at a dive bar and it was very near closing time but that approaching velocity was doing nothing to slow down Zenigata's drinking. Yata wasn't sure how much Zenigata had had to drink but it was at least 2:1 what Yata had been drinking and Yata was already pretty drunk. Following in that pattern at last call Zenigata ordered three shots, gave one to Yata, and downed the other two himself. Then the lights were on and they were being asked politely to leave.

It was winter and brutally cold out and when Yata stepped out of the bar he made a comment about hoping Lupin would send a calling card somewhere warmer next time. When he didn't get a response he turned around and saw Zenigata leaning against a lamp post, looking like the last several shots had just hit him all at once.

One of the big reasons Yata tried to decline going out drinking on nights like this was Zenigata wasn't so much trying to find a pick-me-up after a bad work day as he was trying to get obliterated, trying to make a dive towards oblivion and forget himself for a night by poisoning his brain with enough alcohol that he could sever its connection to that whirring emotional mess at his core. He was a big man with a powerful constitution so it took a lot of effort but when he felt low enough, like tonight, he succeeded, and then Yata had the honor of helping his large pseudo-conscious coworker make it back to his hotel room in one piece.

Yata debated on calling a cab and just throwing Zenigata in the back seat but they were only a block and a half from the hotel room and if Zenigata got sick it was preferable it happened in a streetside trash can and not in someone else's car.

So he stepped over to Zenigata and swung the big man's arm over his shoulders and pulled him from his lamp post and they started their walk back to their hotel rooms. Yata tried to take care to avoid any ice patches on the road which was a struggle considering on top of Zenigata's added unsteady weight his own legs were a little wobbly and his own vision a little blurry and unfocused.

The walk after the first half block was through more of an alleyway than a street and about halfway down it Yata started to get a little nervous about lugging a pseudo-conscious drunk man through an alley in an unfamiliar city. Even full of alcohol there was a dawning feeling of dread building in his stomach but he just tried to ignore it and push through.

Then from about twenty feet behind him he heard feet land on asphalt.

He shouldn't have ignored it.

"Hey! Look who it is! Pops Junior!"

He should have called a cab.

"And Pops _Senior_ as well! He's looking a little rough tonight, though!"

With some difficulty he turned and saw Lupin III behind him, gun already drawn and pointed at him, Goemon Ishikawa XIII flanking Lupin, and when Yata turned back towards the other end of the alleyway he could see Daisuke Jigen lurking by a dumpster. Jigen's gun wasn't drawn but it didn't need to be. It would have been impossible for Yata to out-shoot Jigen sober and unencumbered by the weight of a second, larger drunk.

Zenigata grumbled something in Yata's ear but it was nonsense. Yata debated on setting Zenigata on the ground to draw a weapon and have a better chance at a clear shot but at this point any probability of matching the three in firepower was a lost cause. It was down to willpower and negotiation and nothing else and Yata didn't want to show fear or weakness or hesitation. So slumping Zenigata onto the ground in an undignified drunken heap was probably a bad move.

Lupin did have a soft spot for Zenigata and while Zenigata lacked the drive or ability to play it deliberately it was still to his advantage in confrontations like this, where Zenigata's steadfast will and exuberance were assets and sometimes in and of themselves enough to get Lupin to back off. Those qualities had the prerequisite of Zenigata being lucid and conscious for them to be effective, though, and Zenigata was down for the count right now. That left Yata alone in an alleyway with a sociopath and his superhuman cronies who as far as he knew had no such soft spot for him. Great.

"What do you want!?" asked Yata, hoping he did a good job of keeping fear out of his voice and of not slurring too much.

From the cruel smirk Lupin gave in response, he hadn't.

"Oh, so _both_ of you got all fucked up, huh?"

"I said _what do you want_?" repeated Yata, this time using his fear and adrenaline as a tool and shouting back in an uncharacteristically vicious tone that made Lupin flinch in surprise.

"Oh! _Wow_ , Yata! You spooked me with that one!" admitted Lupin before getting right back on track with the jabs, hardly missing a beat. "What, did you and Pops have a fight earlier or something? Put you in a bad mood?"

"Leave him alone!" yelled Yata, now sounding more pleading than angry. He just wanted to get Zenigata back safely and go to bed. It was hard enough to deal with Lupin while backed by an entire police force and Inspector Zenigata, let alone all by himself and drunk and cold and scared. "Please, Lupin, for once-"

"How about you leave him with us?" offered Lupin, tone light and casual as if he was suggesting a restaurant for Sunday brunch.

"No!" cried Yata. He was self-conscious about his emotional state in the face of Lupin's calm demeanor but he didn't know what Lupin was playing at and it frightened him.

"Come on!" said Lupin. "You can relax and not have to lug around your drunk boss who's twice your size for once. Maybe go find a bar that's still open? A young lady to bring back back to your hotel room?"

Lupin raised an eyebrow and gave Yata a suggestive look that made him feel sick.

"Absolutely not!" he shot back.

"How about we _take_ him, then?" suggested Lupin, advancing a few steps closer, gun now held casually at his side since it was more ornamental than anything else with Jigen and Goemon close by.

As Lupin started walking closer Yata's eyes darted towards both ends of the alleyway. There was still no exit and no way he could carry Zenigata out of this. And no way he'd ever leave him behind.

"What do y-you want?" asked Yata a third time, attempt to sound resolute and brave faltering dramatically because he had to shift his weight about halfway through the sentence to keep Zenigata upright and keep them both from falling over.

"Kid, I want you to fuck off and leave your boss here with us," replied Lupin, voice just starting to show agitation.

"Or, what?" asked Yata.

Lupin didn't immediately respond so Yata kept going.

"I'm not going to, okay? I'm not leaving him. I know that if you want to hurt me and take him there's nothing I can do right now to stop you. But I'm not leaving." 

He shifted Zenigata's weight again and continued.

"And I know what Inspector Zenigata thinks of you and that he's worked with you before but that doesn't mean I feel the same way. So if you want to take him off somewhere at four in the morning then you'll have to knock me out or fucking kill me to do it."

Lupin was looking at Zenigata now as Yata spoke. Something in Lupin's eyes, a weird and possessive look, got under Yata's skin, and he hugged Zenigata closer to his side as he kept talking.

"Is that what you want? Isn't that what you keep implying? That you're gonna kill me? Threatening me with a gun late at night in an alleyway?"

There was venom in Yata's voice now. It was his first ever interaction with Lupin where he didn't have to worry about sparing Zenigata's feelings, about cold reality as Yata saw it clashing with Zenigata's romanticized idea of who Lupin was. Of what he was capable of.

"I mean, hell, Lupin! Maybe if you did kill me then he'd actually see you for what you are!"

"And what is that?" asked Lupin, insulting Yata with how much amusement he let creep into his voice.

Yata registered the insult. He didn't hold back.

"You're a fucking _monster_ ," he said. "You're a _parasite_. You're a spectre haunting the life of a good man. You're a _curse_."

There was a flash of something in Lupin's eyes at "parasite"- Yata had hit a nerve with that one- and then Lupin was back with the jabs.

"Are you _jealous_ of how he talks about me, Yata? Trying to get _him_ back to your hotel room and we're interrupting? Getting in your way?"

"Is _everything_ about fucking with you?" shouted back Yata in disbelief.

"Yes," said Lupin with a nod and without hesitation. Completely deadpan.

Yata paused, waiting for Lupin to say something else, but he didn't, so after sputtering for a moment due to being caught off guard by such a flat and direct response Yata found his indignation again and continued.

"Inspector Zenigata is a great man," he said. "You insult him if you think that's the only reason I or anyone else would care about him. Not everyone is like you, Lupin."

"He and I may have more in common than you think!" said Lupin. Then, switching gears on a dime to throw Yata off as the younger man tried to process what he was getting at- "I saw your impassioned little sound bite about how sad your boss is on TV a while back. It seems weird you didn't mention that Zenigata could just quit any time he wants."

"Oh, fuck you! Don't patronize me!" shot back Yata, annoyed and scared and quickly growing physically exhausted. Lupin pretended to not understand what Yata meant, putting on a guileless and confused expression, so Yata sighed and said, "You _know_ that he can't!"

"He could always switch cases," suggested Lupin slowly, smiling, dragging the idea out, indulging in a moment of deep cruelty and saying what all four of them knew was untrue. "He could just switch departments, organizations, if he wanted t-"

"Fuck off! You know he wouldn't. And if he tried you'd never willingly let him go. Our coworkers told me about how you always taunt him whenever he thinks you're gone for good, whenever he's trying to actually connect with someone else."

Yata was shaking now and he didn't have any energy left to try to hide it.

"You love cutting him off from people. To tell you the truth I've been waiting to see what you'd pull to try cutting _me_ off from him. Though I didn't expect this being how it would go."

"If I ever cut you off from him," said Lupin, voice suddenly cold and sharp as the night air around them, "it would be because you aren't good enough for him."

"Fucking- _excuse me_?" said Yata, both genuinely offended by the insult and surprised at how dramatic Lupin was being, sounding like a jealous lover misinterpreting a platonic work relationship as a threat.

Then, as that thought turned in his head, Yata tried not to think about the "more in common" line from earlier or what Lupin had meant by it.

He also tried not to think of how many times in how many cities, late at night or early in the morning, he had heard someone leave Zenigata's hotel room adjacent to his, soft click of the door the only indication, when Zenigata should have been spending the night in those rooms alone.

"You asked why we we're here," said Lupin, voice steady but shooting Yata a chilling look, whites of both of his eyes fully visible as he advanced a few more steps towards them. "It's four in the fucking morning, kid. You're drunk and he's completely gone, he can't even walk straight, he doesn't even _know_ I'm _here._ And you walk down a- a fucking dimly-lit alleyway with nobody around. It would have taken _nothing_ to kill both of you. Do you understand?"

Lupin was very agitated. His eyes were staying wide, his voice was louder than usual, and he was gesticulating with both hands, waving them around, as if the weight of his gun wasn't even there.

"A child- a fucking _child_ could have killed you both. And the man whose weight you've been struggling to support this whole time isn't just _a drunk guy_ who'd be a godsend of an easy mark for anyone who might want to mug him, he's someone a lot of people want to kill. You can do whatever the _fuck_ you _want_ with yourself, but _he_ can't afford to be getting shithoused and stumbling around."

Yata wanted to say something, to interrupt. He desperately wanted to refute what Lupin was saying, at least a little, save a little face, for Zenigata even more than for himself. But he couldn't. He felt helpless as his indignance faded and embarrassment crept up in its place.

"And I'm sure you don't want to hear this, especially not from me, but he's been getting worse about this kind of shit now that you're partnered with him. You throw your little pity parties and wallow together every time I get away from you two and he doesn't worry about how drunk he gets because knows you're always there to carry him back."

Lupin was less than ten feet away now and was still slowly advancing, feet hitting the pavement one at a time as his stilted, angry walk over continued.

"This monster," he said, pointing at himself, "this _parasite_ ," pointing at himself again, angrier, "was in the bar with the both of you, and you were so self-centered and drunk you didn't even fucking notice. I wasn't even wearing a disguise! And fifteen minutes before you stumbled out, me and Jigen and Goemon went ahead of you to tail and kill the two hitmen that were waiting for you in this alley."

Lupin pointed his gun-free hand at the dumpster Jigen was standing by and Yata looked over, then noticing the motionless pair of legs and pooling blood on the ground sticking out from behind it for the first time.

"And this isn't the only time we've had to do this shit! I'm getting tired of it and I'm tired of being cute about it and not saying something to the two of you."

Lupin was right in front of Yata now. Keeping eye contact with Yata he reached a hand out and hit Zenigata, not gently, on the side of his head, knocking his hat off-kilter. He got no response.

"Or the _one_ of you since Pops is checked out right now."

Out of Lupin's periphery he could see that the hat was crooked and it seemed to bother him for some reason, so he reached out and adjusted it back as he kept speaking. Not breaking eye contact with Yata once the entire time.

"If you have time to mope and cry about me getting away then use that time to get better instead. Get faster. Fucking _catch me,_ you loser! Stop crying about it. And stop letting him drink so much. Look at him!" He waved a hand towards Zenigata. "He's gonna feel like shit tomorrow!"

It was true. Zenigata did look like he'd feel like shit tomorrow.

"I had this whole- I had a really cool heist planned. And now he's- God!"

Lupin turned then to look up and down Zenigata's face as he spoke.

"He's always achy and braindead when he's hungover. It's too easy. It's fucking _boring_."

There was something in Lupin's expression, in his tone, that betrayed a deeper concern than he was admitting to in his words. His face had a gentle expression and he looked like he wanted to reach up and touch Zenigata's face, check in on him more closely, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do, but was holding himself back from doing so.

There was also a deeper frustration, a disappointment at something other than their cat and mouse game being disrupted by a hangover.

"If you care about him so much that you're gonna soapbox to me about him," Lupin said, body still facing Zenigata but head and shoulders turning to glare at Yata, "then fucking _take care_ of him."

And there it was. That implication. An unspoken _Take care of him, you idiot, when I can't._

"Don't let him do this to himself again. It's depressing. I don't understand how you could think he's a _great man_ and all this and then act like it's fine that he does this shit."

Yata wasn't sure how to respond apart from giving an affirmative nod.

Lupin stood quietly for a moment looking at Zenigata then startled Yata by turning suddenly and jabbing a thin finger into the front of Yata's jacket.

"And it's- it's _mutualistic symbiosis_. Okay? _"_

Lupin then used the same index finger to gesture back and forth between himself and Zenigata.

" _Mutualistic symbiosis,_ " he said again. " _Mutually_ beneficial. Not _parasitic_ symbiosis. I don't give a fuck if you understand it or not. I didn't ask you to. He didn't either."

Yata vaguely understood what Lupin was getting at and nodded again even though it seemed to him like it was mostly just Lupin still upset at his "parasite" comment and trying to make himself feel better out loud. Yata did feel like he was probably out of danger, though, so his adrenaline was wearing off and he was getting tired again. He'd just keep nodding until Lupin left them alone.

"Good job not leaving him or running away, though. Appreciate it. Glad you didn't. If you were that much of a craven little coward maybe we _would_ have to kill you, huh? Ha-ha. Anyway!" He put his gun away, clapped his hands together, and smiled at Yata. "Have a good one!"

Lupin then turned around abruptly and started walking back to Goemon's end of the alley, motioning for Jigen to follow him. Jigen sauntered by, hands in his pockets and arms akimbo, and Yata could tell he was smiling as he passed. As if this whole interaction had been perfectly casual and normal.

Then, just like that, all three were gone, and Yata was alone again in the bitter cold with the warm, heavy weight of his friend on his side.

Yata made a decision to not look at or behind the dumpster as he and a still-very-drunk Zenigata stumbled back towards their hotel. There were plenty of things Yata had learned were probably better to look away from since joining Zenigata and his case. What was one more added to the list?

**Author's Note:**

> My thought process for this was if someone actually cared about Zenigata they would probably hate Lupin and what Lupin did to his life, or at least hate him at first. And Yata clearly cares about Zenigata.
> 
> Our characterizations of Yata and Zenigata are very very different but I'd recommend Welcome Wagon by Quillheart if you want to check out another "Lupin bullies Yata" fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
